Forbes 'new billionaires' include former governor Schwarzenegger and Bay Area figures
Arnold Schwarzenegger attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix's "FUBAR" at The Grove on May 22, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO - California’s former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is among the state’s residents that landed on Forbes 2025 list of new billionaires.
With an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, the former politician and Terminator star amassed his wealth from the 50 movies he's starred in, according to the publication. "He has also invested in commercial real estate, private equity and the stock market," Forbes noted.
New celebrity billionaires
Schwarzenegger joined other famous newcomers to the billionaire club, including rock legend Bruce Springsteen, worth $1.2 billion, and comedian Jerry Seinfeld with a net worth of $1.1 billion.
Local perspective:
California was well-represented on the Forbes newcomer list with the co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Scale AI, Alexandr Wang, being named the youngest self-made billionaire. Born in 1997, Wang began Scale AI at the age of 19.
Alexandr Wang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Scale AI Inc., stands for a photograph after a Bloomberg Technology television interview in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Another Bay Area tech billionaire that made the list was Dario Amodei, who grew up in San Francisco.
Valued at $1.2 billion, the CEO of artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic and his co-founders recently completed a new round of fundraising that brought the valuation of their company to $61.5 billion last month.
Forbes noted tech leaders made up the biggest number of "three-comma" newcomers.
"Technology was the most popular field for new billionaires, with 46 building fortunes in the industry," the publication noted.
The industry’s strong presence also helped put San Francisco among the top cities worldwide with the most billionaires.
San Francisco was ranked 8th highest with its 58 billionaires, whose total net worth was valued at $217 billion.
The city tied with Shanghai for having the 8th most billionaires.
Women underrepresented
The group that was not well represented in the new billionaires club were women, who accounted for only 15% of the newcomers, and most of them inherited their wealth, according to Forbes.
However, the Bay Area’s winery mogul Barbara Banke was among the few notable exceptions.
The 71-year-old Banke co-founded Santa Rosa-based Jackson Family with her late husband Jess Jackson, who died in 2011.
The vintner is behind the renowned Kendall-Jackson wine label.
Banke was one of 288 newcomers to the billionaires list.
Big picture view:
Forbes' annual list of the world's richest people included more than 3,000 billionaires and the most ever recorded by the publication.
When Forbes first began collecting its list of billionaires in 1987, it identified 140 people.
"It took two decades for their numbers to swell beyond 1,000," Forbes noted, adding, "Now, eight years later, another milestone: 3,028 entrepreneurs, investors and heirs make up this year's ranking."
At the top of the world's richest were:
- Elon Musk ($342 billion); co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX
- Mark Zuckerberg ($216 billion); co-founder of Facebook and CEO of Meta
- Jeff Bezos ($215 billion); founder of Amazon
- Larry Ellison ($192 billion); co-founder of Oracle
- Bernard Arnault & Family ($178 billion); oversees the French Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.
The U.S. had the most number of billionaires, with 902 names on Forbes' list.
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